Sunday, January 29, 2017

Surfacing for air

I can't believe it has been almost two and a half years since my last post. At the time, I had notions of returning to blogging. I was even crafting a very ambitious post conjecturing how recent events throughout the world could lead a Muslim person to conclude that his religion and way of life was under the attack. The idea was not to apologize or validate such a person's point of view, but rather to understand how one could come to that conclusion and therefore embrace a jihadist ideology as a means of response. In other words, a trying to understand your enemy kind of post.

Between my job commuting to work in the city and my son's ice hockey, I found it difficult to find the time to sit down and compose my thoughts into something I felt was worth being read by other people. Weeks turned into months, which turned into years.

During that time, ISIS expanded and then contracted in the Middle East (though it's story has not played itself out) and Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, albeit with nearly three million fewer popular votes.

On a more personal note, clicking on the links to fellow atheist bloggers from back in the day in my blogroll, I see that many of them have either ceased blogging themselves or their sites are defunct. There was a sense of community back then that is lost now and will likely never come back.

That being said, I may decide I still have some things to say. I may take an active role in trying to reduce single use disposable plastic items like straws, bags, etc. As a scuba diver and lover of the ocean, I am dismayed at the level of plastic pollution in our oceans.

4 comments:

I have long been fascinated with the relationship between Christianity and littering. Some Christians consider themselves stewards of the world they think their "god" created and avoid littering. Many others argue that they have dominion over the world and can basically treat it like a big trash can. I guess this is just another example of how religious faith can be used to justify whatever sort of behavior one wants to justify.

It feels to me like a sense of community is developing anew after the rise of Trump. Having this malignant blunderer in charge of the government has, at least, given millions of people a sense of common purpose. Millions of people, including but not just limited to atheists, are under threat for various reasons. We have a real fight here, and we're in it together.

I haven't been as active lately either. Welcome back. I look forward to your insights. I think part of my drop off was the information overload I had from reddit/r/atheism and my facebook feed. I felt like I didn't really have anything unique to add to the conversation.

I've been outraged and dismayed by recent politics and the kow-towing to the religious right. I think there will be plenty to say in the near future for all of us.